ET phoned home! Signals received from another galaxy

ALIEN: The radio signals were certainly out of this world [ALLSTAR/CINETEXT/UNIVERSAL]

The ET-style messages were picked up by a giant listening post on the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico.

Astrophysicist Victoria Kaspi described the discovery as “really exciting” because it raises the possibility that we will eventually make contact with alien civilisations living billions of miles away.

Professor Kaspi, from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, said: “This is important because it eliminates any doubt that these radio bursts are truly of cosmic origin.

“They show every sign of having come from far outside our galaxy.”

“They show every sign of having come from far outside our galaxy”

Professor Victoria Kaspi

Astronomers using the Parkes Observatory in Australia have recorded a handful of similar events in the past.

But the lack of any evidence from other facilities, such as the Puerto Rico base, led to speculation that the Australians had picked up signals originating from sources on or near Earth.

Now this new evidence has convinced experts the source must be a galaxy beyond the Milky Way.

Puerto Rico’s Arecibo radio telescope is the largest in the world. Its massive dish spans 300 metres.

Experts hope new telescopes being built in Canada, South Africa and Australia will help them find out more about the radio waves.